[Marine04]

I'm needing to buy a inexpensive drill press capable of making clean level holes in 6/4 about 3/4 down for candle holders I'm selling. I haven't had any luck on Craigslist. I've seen some good brands but they all look older than I am. I'm thinking about breaking down and buying either the skil model at lowes or the ryobi model at HD. Any thoughts? Do you guys think they will do the job and last for a little while?

 

[BigJoe16]

I have the craftsman 2/3 hp bench too drill press. It works better than it should. I bought it on sale from sears hardware for $80. It easy spins a 2" Forster but threw bowl blanks.

As for it's durability, we use that same model at work to bring to job sites to drill 1/2" holes threw 1/4 and 3/8" steel plate. I think that DP is almost 3 years old and only has a new belt. It gets beat up, knocked over, and thrown in the back of a truck and hasn't given us problems.

I'd go for that one 10 out of 10 times over a Skil or ryobi machine.

 

[Marine04]

I have the craftsman 2/3 hp bench too drill press. It works better than it should. I bought it on sale from sears hardware for $80. It easy spins a 2" Forster but threw bowl blanks. As for it's durability, we use that same model at work to bring to job sites to drill 1/2" holes threw 1/4 and 3/8" steel plate. I think that DP is almost 3 years old and only has a new belt. It gets beat up, knocked over, and thrown in the back of a truck and hasn't given us problems. I'd go for that one 10 out of 10 times over a Skil or ryobi machine.

Right on. I'll check out craftsman. I did see a couple at Sears tonight. Is the one you're running the one that usually cost 129?

 

[Masterjer]

I have a Ryobi and I hate it. I'll sell it to ya cheap!? I'm looking to upgrade to a "real" drill press.

 

[lilman]

Bout a small benchtop drill press from HF a few months ago and have been pleased with it so far. Depth stop is a little "eh" but it's manageable.

 

[Gilgaron]

Do you have room for a full size? Several others here and myself have the Porter Cable drill press from Lowes and it works quite well and isn't very expensive.

 

[Marine04]

Do you have room for a full size? Several others here and myself have the Porter Cable drill press from Lowes and it works quite well and isn't very expensive.

Yeah I was going to build a small table with cabinet for a bench top press so a full size won't be a problem. I'll go up there and check out the PC. I have a PC table saw and jig saw and love them. Good advice

 

[MT Stringer]

Yeah I was going to build a small table with cabinet for a bench top press so a full size won't be a problem. I'll go up there and check out the PC. I have a PC table saw and jig saw and love them. Good advice

If you buy a cheap, underpowered drill press you will most likely get what you pay for...and be disappointed in it's performance. I had a small /delta but sold it and bought a larger benchtop model with 3/4 hp motor. it is working pretty good but I can still bog it down with big forstner bits (3" +) or hole saws (4-5 inches in dia).

Cabinet, you say?

Here are a few pics of the cabinet I built. Works great! And so does the table.

 

[Marine04]

If you buy a cheap, underpowered drill press you will most likely get what you pay for...and be disappointed in it's performance. I had a small /delta but sold it and bought a larger benchtop model with 3/4 hp motor. it is working pretty good but I can still bog it down with big forstner bits (3" +) or hole saws (4-5 inches in dia). Cabinet, you say? Here are a few pics of the cabinet I built. Works great! And so does the table.

That is a good looking cabinet and drawers. So far the biggest stuff I am needing to drill is 1 5/8". So are the delta DP not that great? I was assuming they were pretty good. I think I'll probably go with the port cable floor model. I checked it out and online it says it's 299.00 and I've been really happy with porter cable as of late

 

[MT Stringer]

That is a good looking cabinet and drawers. So far the biggest stuff I am needing to drill is 1 5/8". So are the delta DP not that great? I was assuming they were pretty good. I think I'll probably go with the port cable floor model. I checked it out and online it says it's 299.00 and I've been really happy with porter cable as of late

For my purposes, the motor was too small. It might work well for you.

 

[TimPa]

I'm needing to buy a inexpensive drill press capable of making clean level holes in 6/4 about 3/4 down for candle holders I'm selling. I haven't had any luck on Craigslist. I've seen some good brands but they all look older than I am. I'm thinking about breaking down and buying either the skil model at lowes or the ryobi model at HD. Any thoughts? Do you guys think they will do the job and last for a little while?

not to offend you, but my first thoughts were an older used model. so many machines are built of lesser quality today. if working properly, those "older than me" models are likely to be better than a box store dp of today. not too much can go bad on a dp. just my opinion.

 

[Tilaran]

not to offend you, but my first thoughts were an older used model. so many machines are built of lesser quality today. if working properly, those "older than me" models are likely to be better than a box store dp of today. not too much can go bad on a dp. just my opinion.

Amen ! Porter Cable, Craftsman, Grizzly. All the same crap. Get an old, old, press and buy a high quality keyless chuck and, if it's low HP, adapt a kickin motor to it. You'll have 3 times more $ in it but you'll have a 57 Chevy instead of a P.O.S. Hyundai.
HERE's a REAL drill press !
http://www.mkctools.com/tachdeltadp.htm

 

[Marine04]

not to offend you, but my first thoughts were an older used model. so many machines are built of lesser quality today. if working properly, those "older than me" models are likely to be better than a box store dp of today. not too much can go bad on a dp. just my opinion.

Yeah I know what you mean. Seems like black and decker has bought every tool company to make sure we can't go to a store and get a good tool. I've noticed a down turn in quality in just the last 8 years. It is unfortunate

 

[railaw]

Yeah I know what you mean. Seems like black and decker has bought every tool company to make sure we can't go to a store and get a good tool. I've noticed a down turn in quality in just the last 8 years. It is unfortunate

Then Stanley bought black & decker!

 

[Marine04]

Then Stanley bought black & decker!

I didn't know that. It's pretty tough keeping up with all the ownership changes. Seems like stuff changes all of the time. I do have to say I have been pretty pleased with porter cable. I've been really happy with my table saw and jig saw

 

[Bigdaddybama92]

Not to argue, but Dewalt owns Black and Decker. Stanley didn't purchase B&D.

 

[Marine04]

Not to argue, but Dewalt owns Black and Decker. Stanley didn't purchase B&D.

I thought black and decker bought dewalt?

 

[Bigdaddybama92]

You are correct! My bad. They own Dewalt, Porter Cable, and a buch of other names u see

 

[Marine04]

You are correct! My bad. They own Dewalt, Porter Cable, and a buch of other names u see

Yeah that kind of worries me. I'm concerned that all the big names that make good tools will start being made with black and decker quality. So far bought two porter cable tools in the last couple months and been very happy. I haven't bought any dewalt stuff in a long time and when I did it was drills and sawzaws which I've had for about 5 years and the still work great. I have had to replace some batteries though. Dewalt batteries used to last me about 1-2 years but I was using them everyday doing electrical work. I do still plan on upgrading to a dewalt orbital sander though and buy their benchtop planer I'll just cross my fingers and hope the quality is still there

 

[Bigdaddybama92]

I worked for them about 5 urs ago and I remember that they really didn't want dewalt to be associated w/b&d to the consumer. But at that time dewalt was considerably better quality of coarse